TEEN-AGE SHOOTING SUSPECT ESCAPES

A Riviera Beach teen-ager who was taken to the county's juvenile detention center last month after allegedly shooting and trying to rob an off-duty Lake Park Police officer escaped from the center Monday.

Police said the 16-year-old scaled the south fence of the detention center compound in West Palm Beach about 9:45 a.m. Monday and ran into a wooded area. The center is in the 1000 block of 45th Street.

A search of the area failed to turn up any sign of the teen-ager.

The youth was arrested Aug. 28 in Riviera Beach after exchanging gunfire with Mark Essary, 24, an off-duty police officer moonlighting as a cab driver.

Both Essary, who was shot in the foot, and the youth suffered minor gunshot wounds.